mercy

Opening Prayer: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! (Psalm 51:1-2)

Scripture: Matthew 9:9-13

Journal: Where do you find yourself in the Scriptures today?  Why?  Who do you most relate to?  What word or image seems to speak to you for some reason or another?  Why?  What is God trying to say to you today?

Reflection: Jesus loves the lost; he always has and he always will.  Something extraordinarily beautiful happens deep in his heart whenever he comes across a dear one that the rest of society has discounted, rejected, or given up on.  His heart goes out to them.  Which is, I believe, a good definition for the word mercy.  And if his heart goes out to them, and his heart is in us, then our hearts should go out to them as well.  But so often that is simply not the case.  Why is that?  Why do we find ourselves so often with the attitude of the Pharisees instead of the attitude of Jesus?  Maybe it is because at some point we have lost touch with our own sense of lostness.  And the minute in which we do that is the minute in which we lose the ability to have mercy on others.  Lostness and mercy go hand in hand, that’s what the Pharisees forgot.  They were so busy proving to themselves—and to everyone around them—that they were found that they forgot the fact that, apart from God’s mercy, we are all hopelessly lost.  I guess not much has changed in two thousand years.  

    Somehow our own sense of being lost or being found has a direct connection with whether we spend our days showing mercy or offering sacrifices.  How we see ourselves determines whether we realize our deep need for a Savior, or whether we just realize the deep need everyone else has for a Savior.  Thus, when we see the lost or the broken, the downtrodden or the outcast, our first reaction is generally not mercy, but judgment.  We want to put distance between us and them.  We want to create a distinction.  And we do this only because somewhere along the line we have forgotten what it is like to be lost.  Or, more accurately, we have lost touch with the fact that apart from God’s mercy we are all hopelessly lost, but he loves us still.  That’s why Jesus reminds us that his is a heart of mercy.  And he desires our hearts to be the same.  “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  Thus, when we see the lost and the broken and the hurting he doesn’t want us to just see them, he wants us to see ourselves.  For only when we recognize and acknowledge our own enormous need for mercy, will we be able to extend mercy to those who so desperately need and desire it.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

encounter

Opening Prayer: Jesus, help me to step inside your story today, so that you might tell me my own.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 9:1-8

Journal: Where do you find yourself in today’s Scripture?  How are you like the paralytic, or the carriers, or the scoffers, or the crowd?  Place yourself in the shoes of each this morning and see what Jesus has to say to you.

Reflection: Unless we make the stories of Scripture our own they do us little good.  The Gospel invites each of us to step inside its pages and encounter Jesus for ourselves, face to face.  That is the beauty of it.  It is alive.  It is engaging.  It is interactive.  It beckons each of us to ask the question: “Where am I in this story?  And what is God trying to say to me?”  It offers us numerous entry points into a deep and transforming conversation with Jesus.  Particularly this story.

     For example, how are you and I like the paralytic?  How are we paralyzed in our lives?  How have we settled for much less than the life God intended for us to live?  Where do we feel stuck and powerless?  Who is trying to carry us to the feet of Jesus, and where are we on that journey?  What would it look like for us to “Rise, pick up our mat and go home?”  What are we holding onto that must be left behind?

     And how are we like the carriers?  Who are we trying to carry to the feet of Jesus and how is that going?  How do we feel about that at the moment?  How long has the journey been so far?  Are we weary and discouraged?  Are we hopeful yet doubt-filled?  Are we dutiful and detached?  Or are we faithful and expectant?  I’m sure each of the carriers was a little different, but, regardless of what was really going on within each of them, they kept going.  And it was their faith that Jesus saw.  How are you? 

     Or do we tend to fall in line with the scribes?  I like to call them the scoffers.  Regardless of what beautiful thing was happening right before their eyes, somehow they were able to find something to criticize and scoff at.  I don’t know about you, but sadly I recognize myself in them much more than I would care to admit.  For some reason, be it insecurity or something else, we tend to have trouble celebrating the beauty and well-being of others.  Unfortunately, we look at the world through the lenses of comparison and competition, which makes everyone around us a threat to our personal worth rather than a brother and a sister.  So, in the case of the scribes, I guess the question becomes: Where is a spirit of criticism and complaint alive and active within us?  And why?

     Or finally, do we somehow find ourselves, at this point in our journey, in the shoes of the crowd?   Are we standing amazed at what we have just witnessed right before our very eyes?  Are we awestruck and dumbfounded at what we have just seen God do within us or around us?  Are we overwhelmed by his power and overcome by his beauty?  If not, why not?

     The truth is that we are most likely all of the above at any particular moment in our lives.  So our job, each day, is to pay close enough attention to God’s Spirit within us that we are be able to hear and discern what each of them has to tell us.  Or, more accurately, what he has to tell us through each of them.  What is it for you?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord God, let your word continue to resound within me throughout this day, that I might hear what you are trying to say to me and live like you would have me to live.  Amen.

who do you say i am

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to come to know you more deeply each day.  Help us to see who you really are, and let that knowledge transform us back into the people you dreamt us to be.  For your kingdom and your glory.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20

Journal: Who do you say that he is these days?  Who does he say you are?  How are the two connected?

Reflection: “My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.  And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are.  You are Peter, a rock.” (Mathew 16:17-18, The Message)

     It is impossible to truly know who we are apart from Jesus.  After all, he is the one who made us, he is the one who dreamt us into being.  He is the only one who knows exactly what was breathed into us before the foundations of the world were made.  So he alone can tell us who we really are.  He alone can give us a true sense of identity.

     And in order for us to discover who we really are, we must discover who he really is first.  The two are vitally linked.  When we discover who Jesus really is, he helps us to discover who we really are—just ask Simon Peter.  In fact, who we are only makes sense in the context of who he is.  So regardless of how hard I may try to make a name for myself in this life, any name that I can make, or achieve, or create for myself can only be false.  Identity can never be achieved, it can only be bestowed.  And it can only be bestowed by the Creator.  Therefore, when we, like Simon Peter, recognize who Jesus really is, then he is able to tell us who we really are, and what our role is in his kingdom.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, it all begins and ends with you.  Help us to never forget that.  May we, this day, be who and what you created us to be—nothing more and nothing less.  May we, this day, be more concerned with your kingdom than we are with our own.  Amen.

storms

Opening Prayer: Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will. Whatever You do, I thank You. I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, as in all Your creatures, I ask no more than this, my Lord. Into Your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to You, O Lord, with all the love in my heart, for I love You, my God, and so need to give myself—to surrender myself into Your hands, without reserve and with total confidence, for You are my Father.  ~Charles de Foucauld

Scripture: Matthew 8:23-27

Journal: What are the storms in your life right now?  How are you reacting to them?  Do they lead you toward faith or toward fear?  Do you trust God’s heart and his hand to care for you in the midst of them?  Why are you so afraid?

Reflection: “Why are you so afraid?”  What a great question.  One that deserves a great answer.  How do you answer it?  Oh it’s easy to say, “Who me?  I’m not afraid,” when the seas are calm and our circumstances are good.  But when all hell breaks loose in our lives, then what happens?  Do we react in faith or do we react in fear?  Because these are the moments that tell us what we really believe, deep in our hearts, about life and about God.  Our reaction to stormy circumstances is telling.  How we choose to react to the storms in our lives determines what we allow ourselves to be controlled by—fear or faith.  Do we “Take courage” as Jesus so often calls us to do, knowing that he is ultimately in control of all things and will indeed take care of us?  Or are we swept away by chaos, allowing fear and panic to dominate our hearts and lives.  Taking courage happens when we choose to be led by faith rather than by fear.  So today, if a storm rears its ugly head, what will we choose?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, do not let fear dominate me today, instead help me to choose faith.  Amen.

the crowd

Opening Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you had the courage to leave the crowd behind when it was necessary.  Give us the ability and the desire to do the same.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 8:18-22

Journal: Who is the crowd to you?  What role does the crowd play in your life?  How are you motivated, or determined by, the crowd?  How do you allow the crowd to distort your thinking?

Reflection: It’s interesting what effect the crowd has on our day-to-day lives, oftentimes without our even noticing it.  And it is just as interesting, if not more so, to look at the effect it had on Jesus.  While most of us go running toward the crowd to give us affirmation and a sense of identity, Jesus actually did the exact opposite.  He stayed away from the crowd, constantly leaving the crowd behind in favor of silence and solitude and prayer.  Of course his compassion got the better of him at times and thus he stayed with the crowd to heal and to help late into the night.  But he would not let the crowd determine his life or his worth. That role was completely up to his Father.  Therefore he was free—and even preferred—to leave crowds behind on a regular basis and escape to seclusion.

     We, on the other hand, play to the crowd more often that we would like to admit.  We tend to derive our sense of value and worth from what they say and how they feel about us.  We need the crowd in ways that Jesus simply did not.  We need the crowd to give us our sense of self, as false as it may be.  We seek out the crowd in order to gain some sense of fame, or popularity, or acclaim, or applause, or wealth.  We allow the crowd to determine the way we live our lives.  We get so swept up—as the scribe did—in the energy and momentum of the crowd and what they are saying that we begin to believe that life and love can be found there.  Particularly in this day and age, when likes and followers and friends and favorites and retweets and reviews allow the crowd to impact us even when we are by ourselves.  The crowd has become a part of the fabric of our lives every minute of every day.  And when we allow the crowd to determine us—where we will go and what we will do and how we feel about ourselves and our lives—we are in dangerous territory.  Because if we truly believe that the crowd can really offer us what we most deeply long for, we are woefully mistaken.  Because, as Jesus was trying to teach us, leaving the crowd behind is an essential part of the spiritual journey.

Spiritual Courage is following the deepest desires of our hearts at the risk of losing fame and popularity.  It asks our willingness to lose our temporal lives in order to gain eternal life. (Bread for the Journey by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us the courage to follow you this day, regardless of what the crowd may be doing, or demanding.  Amen.

courage

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us the courage, this day, to live real, authentic lives.  Lives that flow directly from you and what you are doing deep in our hearts and souls.  Give us the courage to be open and vulnerable with each other, and with you.  Give us the courage to put ourselves out there, whatever that may mean.  Give us the courage to live for your kingdom rather than our own.  All for your glory.  Amen.

Scripture: Joshua 1:6-9

Journal: How does the word courage strike you today?  What does it do within you?  What is courage calling you to?  How is God asking you to be strong and courageous today?

Reflection: “Have courage,” we often say to one another.  Courage is a spiritual virtue.  The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means “heart.”  A courageous act is an act coming from the heart.  A courageous word is a word arising from the heart.  The heart, however, is not just the place our emotions are located.  The heart is the center of our being, the center of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.

     A courageous life, therefore, is a life lived from the center.  It is a deeply rooted life, the opposite of a superficial life.  “Have courage” therefore means “Let your center speak.” (Bread for the Journey by Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, give me the courage to live from my heart (and your heart) today.  Amen.

can and will

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, give me faith this day.  Faith in your hand and faith in your heart.  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 8:5-13

Journal: Do you believe that God can?  Do you believe that God will?  Do you believe that God really does care?  Write a little about that this morning.

Reflection: I don’t typically have trouble believing that God can do something, I have trouble believing that he will.  Why is that?  I’m sure it has a lot to do with the picture of God I carry deep in my heart.  One that I do not recognize until some struggle or circumstance brings me face-to-face with the ugly truth that I’m not sure God wants to do something.  I’m not sure I truly believe that he cares enough about me to go to all that trouble.  Which goes to show how I really feel about myself.  I see myself as an inconvenience.  Surely no one—particularly God—would care enough about me to go out of their way to help.  I am not worth that.  Thankfully Jesus sees it a little differently.  He loves me more than I can ever imagine.  He cares more about me that I could dream about in my wildest dreams.  There is no length he would not go to in order to show me that love.  He can and he will and he cares.  Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Give me faith, Lord Jesus.  Faith to believe not only that you can, but you will act on my behalf.  Faith to believe that you really care for me.  And faith to believe that I am worth caring for.  Amen.